The Bells are Tolling
by cpk962008
Summary: "Leave nothing behind. We can't let the Ministry become suspicious. For all intents and purposes, Harry James Potter is dead." What if it wasn't Dementors that had come after Harry fifth year? T for now.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hi everyone! I know everyone usually jumps on ahead to the actual story, but this is important! This is my second attempt at writing a Vampire!Harry story. The previous one shriveled up and died, so **_**Dancing Shadows Alchemist **_**adopted it. This one will be a completely different story from **_**Moonlit Shadows **_**but the theme is basically the same. I am trying hard to write longer chapters and am also considering adding slash to this story, but that is all up to the reader's personal preference. So after reading, please review and tell me the pairing you would like to see. I'd prefer someone who is still at Hogwarts (meaning under 17). If there is no substantial feedback by Chapter Three or Four, I'll pick someone myself. (Hee-Hee!). I will proably update once a week, so the next update will be next Monday, unless I get really impatient and excited and update sooner. Anyway, enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling and do not own Harry Potter in any shape or form. **

_**The Bells are Tolling**_

_Thump._

Harry opened his eyes to darkness. The darkness was absolute, and as he felt around in the darkness, his hand hit something hard. He realized he was in a small, rather narrow box. Having lived in a small cupboard under the stairs for the first ten years of his life, he was accustomed to being in tight places, so he eventually squashed his paranoia and continued his search at a less frantic pace. The box he seemed to be made of polished wood, and as he felt around, his fingers encountered several unknown objects. He thought he felt the bristles of a broom at one point. How odd.

_Thump._

He started at the noise, which was louder and closer now. As he wriggled around, he felt smooth silk fabric against his back, and a soft pillow beneath his head. The thumping noise seemed to come from directly above, and he felt vulnerable just lying in the darkness. Questions began to race through his head. How had he gotten in here in the first place? Had Voldemort finally gotten him? He cast his mind back, frantically searching for an answer but could not seem to remember what had happened. He remembered going on a walk after finishing his daily chores at Privet Drive. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had gone to see Aunt Marge, and Dudley was at a friend's house, so he had wanted to relish in his temporary freedom. But after…He could not remember.

Why couldn't he remember? It wasn't the close confines doing him in, it was the fact that he didn't know what was going on, or where he was. Hysteria mounting, he began to pound against the wooden ceiling, harsh pants turning into whimpers, then yells. The thumping noise above him got louder, frantic, until finally the wood above him was ripped away, revealing the horrified face of Remus Lupin and the silvery light of the crescent moon. As Remus leaned in, felt darkness closing in on him, and Harry gratefully succumbed to it.

BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK

Remus glanced down in dismay at the limp form of Harry Potter. He would have gone to get the poor boy sooner, but he had had to wait until after the sun had set and the area had been cleared. It was a good thing that Harry had been once again drawn into the Sleep. Remus had nearly had a heart attack when he heard Harry struggling. Albus had assured him that he would be asleep another day. Thankfully, Harry had fallen asleep again. Remus didn't think he was ready to explain everything to him yet. .

As Remus looked down upon the fifteen year old boy, his heart constricted. He wouldn't wish eternity on anyone. Yet Harry, who had the burden of saving the Wizarding World upon his shoulders, had to carry this curse as well. Remus leaned down and gently picked Harry up from the harsh wood of the coffin, and with tears streaming down his face, Apparated away.

He landed and stumbled, catching himself at the last moment. He looked up with blazing amber eyes at the space between Number 11 and Number 13 Grimmauld Place. Before his eyes, another townhouse wedged its way between Number 11 and 13. Number 12 Grimmauld Place stood forebodingly, and the whole structure seemed to lean towards Remus as he hurried up the cracked and worn steps, their dark natures reaching out to each other. As he reached the last step, the door swung wide, revealing the grim face of Albus Dumbledore.

He looked like he had aged decades. Dark circles ringed his eyes, reflecting many sleepless nights. Albus leaned out, took a quick glance down either side of the street, and then ushered Remus hurriedly in. The house was quiet. For once, Remus was thankful that he hadn't tripped on the umbrella stand. The resulting noise would have woken up Madame Black, and consequently the rest of the house as well.

They walked into the living room, where the other Order members were waiting impatiently. Snape, who had been sulking against the far wall, straightened when the door opened and the two of them walked in. The chatter died down as they all looked at their Savior. Remus hurriedly went over to the couch that was thankfully empty, and laid Harry down. Remus looked around, taking note of each face. Someone was missing. He turned to Albus.

"Where's Sirius?"

The others shuffled uncomfortably. Albus cleared his throat, eyes expressing sadness.

"He hasn't left his room since he heard the news."

Remus sighed, closing his eyes. It had been hard on everyone, but it was especially hard on Sirius. He had been the one to originally find Harry, bruised and bloody several blocks from Privet Drive. The blood on Harry' lips had gone unnoticed among his other head injuries until much, much later, when it would be too late to do anything.

Snape pushed away from the wall, arms crossed, mouth set in a sneer.

"The mutt still doesn't believe his precious godson has become a monster."

Remus snarled, eyes blazing. The full moon was nearing, and his temper was suffering the consequences.

"Shut it Snape! He is no more a monster than I am."

Snape laughed, a choked sound in the back of his throat. Everyone else was silent, watching the exchange with curious eyes.

"No? Lupin, you are dangerous three times a month. _His _kind is dangerous to all of us, all the time. When he wakes up, his hunger will know no bounds. We should have staked him when we'd had the chance!"

Albus spoke up, quietly.

"Severus, enough."

He looked out toward all the Order members, who had unconsciously inched themselves away from Harry, and frowned.

"However, Severus has a point. When Harry wakes up, he will be hungry and scared, and dangerous combination, and will go after the first person he sees. I see no other option but to have him restrained until he regains his mental faculties."

He paused, turning to Mr. Weasley.

"Arthur, the children do not suspect anything, do they?"

Arthur weakly smiled and shook his head.

"No Albus, we did not tell them anything. They still think that…"

The rest of the sentence was unspoken, but understood.

Albus sighed and turned to Remus who was still giving Severus death glares.

"Remus?"

The werewolf turned toward him, and his aggressive stance relaxed.

"Will you take Mr. Potter up to his room? I will follow soon to ward the room."

Remus nodded, bending down and taking Harry in his arms, who made a snuffling noise and burrowed his face deeper into Remus' chest. Remus gave a sad, watery smile back at Albus, and then left the room, the door swinging softly shut behind him.

Albus turned toward the rest of the Order members.

"Kingsley."

A dark skinned man stood up, eyes questioning. His Auror badge shone under the weak light of the room.

"I'd like you to take Nymphadora with you and cover up any unwanted evidence. Leave nothing behind. We can't let the Ministry become suspicious. For all intents and purposes, Harry James Potter is dead."

**Yay! First Chapter is finally done. Please, remember that feedback is always appreciated. Oh, and don't forget to submit your pairing option!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hi! I'm back! I know I said I was going to update on Monday, but things got a bit out of hand and my Calculus homework jumped me. :D. But here I am! If I didn't mention it before, the story is a fifth year fic. This chapter is sort of a filler, but important stuff is mentioned, so read it anyway. The next chapter is when things start heating up. **

**Before I start, I'd like to give a shout out to **_**Tolkare, **_**who faved this story,**__**and also to **_**bobert0774 and ECSAgirl **_**for putting this on their alerts. Thanks you guys!**

**On another note, the pairing choice for Harry is still open, so if you'd like to suggest a pairing for him, be it slash or not, just send out a review! It doesn't need to be long, just "Harry/(whoever you want)", and I'm good. **

**Okay, I'm just rambling now. On with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling and do not own Harry Potter in any shape or form. **

_**The Bells are Tolling **_

The stairs seemed longer than usual as Remus walked up to the third floor. Thankfully, Molly had gotten the children in their rooms and locked the doors before he'd arrived, so the second floor was silent. It wouldn't do for them to see Harry when he was supposed to be six feet under. He looked down at the fifteen-year-old boy in his arms, and sighed. He could already see a significant amount of change, and there was still a day to go until he woke up. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice that he had reached the landing until he looked down and saw that there were no more steps.

He had been thinking back to the Order meeting that was still going on downstairs. They had all decided that the third floor would be the best place to put Harry. Ron, Hermione, and the others were staying on the second floor, and the only one on this floor were he and Sirius, who already knew of the situation.

The bedroom that Albus had indicated was at the very end of the hallway. It was bigger than most of the rooms in the house. When he stepped through the door, careful to make sure that Harry's head didn't hit the side, he saw that the room had already been prepared for Harry's arrival. The bed had been made and a several sets of robes had been hung up in he armoire. The desk near the far wall was stacked with books which ranged anywhere from muggle fantasy novels to books on vampires, such as Doug Hifflan's _The Comprehensive Study of a Vampire. _Remus knew that the author was unbiased, which was a rarity in the Wizarding World, because he had read _The Comprehensive Study of a Werewolf _when he was younger.

Remus had just lain Harry down onto the bed in the bed and was just leaving to go visit Sirius when Albus entered the room.

The cheerful headmaster who randomly offered sherbet lemons to strangers was no more. In his place was a 113-year-old man who seemed to hold the weight of the world on his shoulders. In a way, he did. Being Headmaster at Hogwarts, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and head of the Order was no easy task, and it was a surprise that he hadn't burned out from all the stress long ago. But it seemed that this situation was affecting him more then he let others believe. Albus didn't keep many close to his heart, but Harry Potter was one of them. James and Lily had been as well, and a part of Albus had died with the young couple on that fateful October night so many years ago.

Stepping forward to stand next to him, Albus put a heavy hand on Remus' shoulder. Words went unspoken, but the deep, aching sadness in those blue eyes was obvious. Remus just nodded to him, and stepped back to let the man work. The first thing he did was to imbibe everything in the room sans Remus and himself with strengthening and durability charms. When Harry woke up, he'd have a hard time controlling his strength, and this would be in place to make sure that he didn't break anything or try to escape. Next, Albus summoned restraints, which he also charmed then clapped around Harry's wrists and ankles, securing the other ends to the wooden frame of the bed. Harry didn't twitch throughout the whole ordeal.

Before they left the room, the Headmaster sent a reflection charm at the window, which immediately sent the room into darkness. Upon closing the door behind him, Albus cast a silencing and locking charm on the room, and at a stray thought, an alert charm as well. It would alert Albus the moment Harry woke up.

They both stood there for a long minute, gazing at the mahogany door with the initials proudly carved into the wood. Albus was the first to come to his senses, and turned to Remus.

"I'll come for you when it is time."

He turned back to the door, and sighed.

"For now, I think it's best if you go to Sirius. The meeting is over, and I do believe we'll need all he rest we can get."

"Yes Headmaster."

With a final nod, Albus and Remus parted ways, Albus going downstairs and Remus making his way to Sirius room, which was on the other side of the corridor.

Sirius' door was, unsurprisingly, locked. Remus sighed and knocked.

A hoarse voice from within spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"It's me, Remus. Will you let me in?"

He waited for several moments, his ears picking up the sounds from inside as Sirius moved about.

The door was thrown wide, hitting the back wall with a loud _thump_.

Sirius was a mess. More so than Albus, though Albus was more familiar to Harry. But Sirius had been the one to find Harry in the first place, in that tunnel several blocks from Privet Drive. Sirius' eyes were dull and lifeless. He hadn't shaved for weeks, and by the stench rolling off him, showered either. He moved to the side to let Remus through, then shut the door behind them. The only light in the room came from the small window, but it was enough for Remus to see the mess in front of him.

The furniture was thrown about, some broken, others simply lying on their side. The The bed sheets were in a tangled heap on the ground, thrown off in reaction to nightmares, perhaps? The walls, were ripped and torn by claws, and there were numerous gouge marks in the wooden floor as well. The only thing left untouched was the dresser besides the bed, on which was propped a photo of Sirius and Harry.

Remus remembered that photo very well. It had been taken after the Quidditch World Cup fiasco, just before Harry had gone off to Hogwarts for his fourth year. In the photo, their faces were stretched wide into a grin: Sirius' joyful, that he was finally with his godson, and Harry's cautiously hopeful, that he might finally have a place to call home. Neither of them would know of the horrors that would come about that year: the death of that innocent Hufflepuff Cedric Diggory, or the revival of You-Know-Who.

Sirius was obviously in mourning. He blamed himself for not getting to Harry faster, for not noticing the blood until it was too late to do anything but put him in the ground and hope for the best. The photo on the dresser was for Sirius a memory of a far happier time he'd rather live in.

Remus looked away from the photo back at Sirius. Everything was quiet except for the sound of their breathing, but Remus spoke up anyway.

"I put him in Regulus' room."

Sirius looked up from the photo sharply, and a flicker of emotions ran across his face. Anger at Remus for pulling him from the happy memory, and sadness as reality came flooding back in. Sirius ignored Remus' comment.

"It's easier as a dog, you know."

It was matter of fact, the way it was spoken, but it still hurt Remus, only because he knew what Sirius was talking about.

"The pain?"

"Yeah."

Animals didn't have the same range of emotions and thoughts that humans did. For Remus, when he transformed with the Wolfsbane potion, he forgot his human life, and the petty worries and concerns that came with it. Remus understood why Sirius preferred to spend more time as a dog than a human. The pain that ached in his heart was dulled. He didn't have to remember.

"Sirius…"

Remus was prepared to gently explain that no, it wasn't safe to spend that much time in his Animagus form, that he might get consumed, but he didn't. They had all been dealing with the situation in their own ways, and for Sirius, this was his coping mechanism. Instead, he tried to comfort his friend.

"This doesn't mean he's gone."

Sirius stiffened.

"Things will be…different…. but Harry is still with us. He isn't going anywhere."

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the taller man, bringing him into a firm hug.

"Mourning is for the ones who've passed on. You're wasting your tears, Sirius. When Harry wakes up, he'll need us to be strong."

Sirius took in a big, shuddering breath.

"Be strong, Sirius. We need you."

The tears that Remus had refused to shed now spilled over. Fat, salty tears that made their way down his face and soaked into Sirius' shirt. They would need all their strength to get through the following few nights.

**Annnddd, that's a wrap! Don't forget to drop a review this time, which lets me know if this story is worth continuing. See you next week!**

**-cpk62008**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys! Sorry it's been so long. I've been in DC this past couple weeks and have been trying to "soak up the history" like my parents keep telling me to. But I was at the Library of Congress today and **_**finally **_**found the time to write, so here's the next chapter! This chapter should be a little more exciting: Harry finally wakes up! **

**Many thanks to **_**Tigereyedgirl , Qman454 , shiroi no ryusennin , tsukiko-uchiha95**_**, **_**DarkDreamer1982 , The High Demon Lord , Victoria J. Potter, **_**and all**__**the **_**Guests **_**who faved, alerted, or reviewed. Thank you guys!**__

**And don't forget to cast your pairing vote! So far, we have**_**:**_

**harry/tracey : 2**

**harry/daphne : 2**

**harry/susan : 1**

**harry/ginny : 2 **

**harry/luna : 1**

**harry/hermione: 1**

**I'll be closing up the pairing in a few chapters, so be sure to turn your vote in soon! This chapter is in Remus' point of view and is a little short, but this is just to tide you guys over until I get back to L.A. Cheers!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does. **

_**The Bells are Tolling**_

Remus was sitting at the kitchen table nursing a mug of tea early in the morning when Albus Floo-ed in. The Weasleys had left an hour ago to do their school shopping, taking Hermione with them, so the only ones in the house where Sirius, Harry, and himself.

Upon hearing the familiar _whoosh _of the fireplace, Remus set his mug down and went into the living room. Albus was standing in front of the fireplace, which was still spitting out green flames. He was holding a large mug of suspicious red liquid, and one whiff was all that Remus needed to know it for what it was. _Blood. _

Remus paled.

"Albus, does that mean…?"

The Headmaster nodded, being careful not to spill anything on his canary yellow robes.

"It's time."

Simultaneously, they quickly headed for the stairs, Remus' mug of tea forgotten on the kitchen table. The werewolf arrived at the landing first in time to see Sirius step out of his room. The Black heir had obviously taken Remus' words to heart, if his fresh smell and shaved face was any indication. One look at Remus' grim face and Sirius nodded, stepping out of his room and shutting the door behind him.

The three of them headed across the hallway, and upon reaching their destination, Albus handed the cup off to Sirius and pulled his wand out from the sleeve of his robe. After a few counter spells, the door clicked open. Remus went first; nostrils flared and shoulders tense, quickly followed by Albus and Sirius, who was glancing down into the cup with a look of revulsion on his face. The lined up against the back wall, and Albus reapplied the locking charms to the door in the off chance that Harry managed to break free.

After hesitating for a moment, he also undid the charm he had placed on the window, sending the morning light, which stopped just shy of the bed, into the room.

_It would be a last resort, _he decided.

Meanwhile, Remus stepped closer to the bed, the previous darkness of the room not hindering his vision at all. The changes had continued through the night, transforming Harry's face and body into the perfect predator. Remus cast his mind back to all he knew about vampirism.

The vampire gene was transmitted when a vampire's venom got into the bloodstream. The venom would quickly make its way through its victim's body in a matter of hours seeping into every cell. After that, it spent several days strengthening its host and reworking the inner body. The physical changes came last, which is why Harry hadn't looked that different when he'd rescued him from the cemetery last night.

The venom had erased all signs of malnutrition and abuse that Harry had suffered, abuse that Remus hadn't known about until third year when he had gone to teach at Hogwarts. Both James and Lily had been tall, so it was no surprise that Harry had shot up several inches, landing just shy of six feet. He had been a slip of a thing before, even with all that Quiditch training under his belt, a gangly creature made of skin and bones. Now he had finally filled out, and though he couldn't be called muscular, he wasn't underweight anymore. Obviously, such extensive growth would be painful, but the venom also temporarily disconnected all pain signals to the brain, pulling its host into a deep Sleep until the last heartbeat.

Harry's face had also changed. Any remaining baby fat had melted away, leaving behind a thin face rounded off by a strong jaw. His nose had straightened out and the rest of his face had become more symmetrical. Harry had been halfway handsome before, but now…

Remus sighed and dragged his hand through his brown hair. The venom had to take its energy for making the changes from somewhere, so Harry would be insanely Thirsty when he woke up. That's what the cup of blood was for.

They'd need it soon, too. Harry's heartbeat had just stopped.

With bated breath, Remus watched as Harry's eyelids fluttered. He was coming out of the Sleep. Quickly he turned to Sirius, snatching the cup out of those frozen, unmoving hands and holding it in preparation. The only thing Harry would smell when he woke up would be the cup of blood, since Albus had cast charms on the three of them to block their scent. If Harry woke up Blood Crazed, it would be better if he came after him rather than Sirius or Albus. He could take the attack, after all.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Harry's eyes opened, long, black lashes separating to reveal the most vivid shade of red eyes. They seemed to glow as they looked around the room, pausing when he saw the three of them near the door. His eyes locked onto Remus, or more particularly, the cup in his hands, and he took a delicate sniff.

Remus watched in dread as Harry's eyes dilated.

Before they knew it, Harry had somehow wriggled out of the restraints and thrown himself at Remus, snarling.

**Oooh, cliffie! Until next time! As always, feedback is always appreciated and remember to turn in your pairing option as soon as possible! See you in a couple days. **

**-cpk962008**


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